Dead Poets Takin' Over the Asylum
by doctordata63
Summary: St. Jude was the patron saint of lost causes, so Todd was sure it was the aptest name for an asylum he'd ever seen.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so this is the result of watching Dead Poets Society and Takin Over the Asylum. It has the characters of DPS and the setting of TOA, which is a mental hospital in the mid-1990s. I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 1

Todd still wasn't sure how he'd managed to get himself into this situation. It felt surreal more than anything, like it wasn't him who'd gone and had a nervous breakdown, yet somehow he was the one being punished for it. He'd had a lot of time to think about how desperately unfair the situation was as his mother had driven him to the last place on earth he wanted to be.

St. Jude was the patron saint of lost causes, so Todd was sure it was the aptest name for an asylum he'd ever seen. They were greeted by an older man who's expression was more that of a warden than someone who ran a hospital.

"Mrs. Anderson, my name is Doctor Nolan," the man said solemnly, "and you must be Todd."

Todd said nothing, only acknowledging the comment by briefly looking up from his shoes. His mother looked like she was about to cry, and she hugged him tightly. She didn't need to say goodbye, he knew how she felt, and it made him feel shittier than he already did.

He wasn't led so much as shoved into his new living space though calling it that was a bit of a stretch. It was small and bare and smelled like antiseptics. There was also someone already in there.

"Hello," the boy smiled brightly and held out his hand, which Todd couldn't shake as he was carrying too many bags. "Jesus, how long are you planning to stay here?" He looked like was going to try to help, but Todd ignored him and plopped his bags on the only empty bed.

"Guess we're gonna be roommates then."The boy was still making an effort to be friendly, and Todd had to commend him. Most people would've already stopped by now. "My name's Neil."

"Todd" the other boy mumbled, looking up to take a look at Neil. He suddenly felt his stomach lurch at the sight of a scar across the side of his jaw.

"I shot myself in the face." Neil answered Todd's unspoken question. "Don't worry, everyone does that, I'm used to it."

Suddenly a voice cried out "DINNER!" and Neil jumped to his feet.

"Do you want me to show you where the cafeteria is? The food's dismal, but you kind of have to eat it." He gave Todd another smile, and this time it was returned.

The cafeteria was as white and frighteningly clean as the rest of the hospital, and the floors had been washed recently, so Todd's grand entrance nearly involved crashing into all the tables. Luckily he had Neil to guide him, and they sat down with a group of other boys.

"So," one of them said grinning, eying Todd to see of he was a friend or foe, "what's a handsome fella like you doing in a place like this?"

"Don't you start Charlie." Neil groaned and turned to Todd saying "He's like this with everyone, just ignore him."

"Dammit Neil, how many times do I have to tell you, the name's Nuwanda." Charlie snapped back.

Neil rolled his eyes. "_Nuwanda,_ this is my new roommate, Todd."

"Well hello there Todd, welcome to hell. Try to enjoy your stay." Charlie was still grinning smugly in a way that was still slightly intimidating.

"My name's Knox." said one of the boys, holding out his hand, which Todd limply shook. "Oh, and this is Meeks." he gestured to a curly haired boy to his right.

"What's on the menu tonight then?" Neil inquired, and all of the boys responded with disgusted expressions.

"Meatloaf, or as it should be called God-knows-what's-in-there-loaf." Charlie said, and Knox looked immensely uncomfortable.

Neil quickly picked up on this and asked Knox if everything was alright, which he said it was.

"Knox has problems with that stuff, that's why he's in here." Charlie said, but somewhat less smugly. "What are you in for, Todd?"

"I... uh..." Todd felt himself freeze up suddenly, and Neil quickly came to his defense.

"If he doesn't want to talk about it, don't make him."

"No, it's okay. I... kinda had a breakdown." Charlie nodded understandingly.

"Oppositional Defiance Disorder, or at least that's what the shrink says. Also, some slight problems with recreational abuse of illegal substances. I'm a bit of a problem child." he smirked.

"Don't we all know it." Knox snorted, earning him a slap on a head from Charlie.

"Alright, that's enough, do you want to get yourself forcibly separated again?" Meeks said, looking as though he'd had to deal with this sort of behavior on not just a daily but hourly basis.

"It's really not too bad here," Neil whispered to Todd as Knox and Charlie tried to resolve their argument, "just try not to do whatever Nuwanda does and they'll let you out soon enough."

Todd nodded, but couldn't help but notice this was the most he'd talked in months.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The hospital seemed to run slower in the morning, and for that Todd was thankful. Yesterday had been a bit of a whirlwind, so he was thankful for the relief. However, all that was to change in the afternoon.

A group of girls came in around lunchtime, and as St. Jude's held men only, there was a bit of a stir.

"Volunteers." Neil explained. "They told us that this group from the community center would be coming over to do art therapy every Saturday."

"Well, for once I actually approve." Charlie said

Knox wasn't listening to this conversation, and it appeared he was staring at one of the girls. She was chatting eagerly with another patient, who Todd thought he'd seen before.

"So, you're name is Gerard?"

"They call me Pitts, actually." He appeared to be much more interested in some sort of gadget was fiddling with.

"Hey, I didn't see you yesterday. Don't tell me you ran off again." Meeks said, approaching Pitts. Knox followed Meeks, clearly eager to say hello to the girl he was talking to, but also completely unsure what to say.

"Knox, I'm hi." he blurted out, and immediately looked ready to crawl into a hole and never come out.

"Hello, my name's Chris." she smiled sweetly at him.

"The name's Nuwanda." Charlie said, slithering up next to Knox, who then proceeded to give him a look of death.

"What're you doing?" Neil asked, looking at the gadget in Pitts's hands.

"Not building a radio, if Nolan asks." Pitts answered, not looking up from the thing.

Charlie was already plunging into his art, drawing something that looked suspiciously like breasts. Knox kept screwing up his drawing on purpose so that Chris would help him, and Meeks joined Pitts to work on the not-radio.

Todd was on his own again, and he started drawing a series of random lines, hoping that inspiration would somehow strike. Neil was next to him, and he was randomly splashing paint on a canvas. He found himself oddly fascinated by Neil's creative process, but was taken out of the moment by a strange man walking by with a large box that appeared to be full of records.

"Who's that?" he asked Neil, pointing in the man's direction, to which Neil just shrugged. Todd decided that he had had enough of art for one day, and crumpled up his sad excuse for a drawing.

It was about then that Pitts and Meeks's radio picked up a signal.

"Hello, welcome to St. Jude's radio, I'm John Keating, and I'll be your DJ."

Everyone quickly huddled around the radio, waiting for the next statement.

"Now, as there are no requests yet, I would like to play a song from my youth. I know, I can practically feel your excitement, but it's a good one. This is The Beatles, with "Hey Jude."

"Jesus, my mom loves that song!" Neil exclaimed. "She used to play it all the time when I was a kid."

"We have a station?" Todd said, still a bit confused on what exactly was going on.

"We did, I thought they'd cut off the funding years ago." Neil said.

"They should call it 'looney tunes'." Charlie quipped, and Knox gave him another look of death.

A good number of songs played after that, though most of them were a bit more current. No requests had come in, but Keating had managed with what he had. After about two more hours, Keating signed off, and the radio went back to static.

"Well that was weird." One of the boys said.

"But different." Neil replied. He looked deep in thought, as though a new spark had suddenly been set off in his brain.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Neil had been bouncing off the walls since the Keating incident, refusing to let anyone get a word in while he kept yapping on about it. Todd found it strange that Neil, who didn't seem to know when to shut up half the time, would want to be around someone like him. Neil was passionate in a way that Todd had only ever dreamed of being. It was like putting a rock next to the Energizer Bunny. It made absolutely no sense, but he wasn't going to question it, just in case.

"They're not gonna let him come back." said Charlie.

"Well, why not?" Neil sat up and crossed his arms defensively.

"He's actually gotten us excited about something, you think Nolan will let that continue?"

"What does it matter?" Knox sighed dramatically and fell down on the seat next to Neil.

"What do you mean 'what does it matter?'" Neil said, genuinely surprised, and even Charlie seemed to be confused by this sudden burst of apathy from his friend.

"Today, I met Chris Noel." Knox said dreamily.

"Who?" asked Meeks, who'd just finished solving a Rubik's cube after only about two minutes.

Knox glared at him as though he'd just asked what water was. "Only the most beautiful girl in the world."

"Okay, how exactly is that a bad thing?" Neil asked, even more confused, but now slightly bemused as well.

"She's practically engaged," he heaved out another deep sigh "to Chet Danbury."

There was a collective groan from the company of boys, so Todd could infer that Chet Danbury was not particularly well thought of.

"That sucks." was all Meeks could manage.

"Sucks? It _sucks? _Meeks, it's a fucking tragedy! A girl that beautiful in love with such a jerk."

"The good ones usually go for jerks." said Pitts, who had joined the conversation during the commercial break fro whatever television program he'd been enjoying. At least Todd thought he'd been enjoying it, he'd certainly been yelling a lot.

Knox kept getting words of encouragement from his companions, telling him that there were other fish in the sea and other similar metaphors, but with each word he seemed to grow more and more despondent.

"We should try to help with the show." Neil said, managing to make everyone forget about Knox's love life, or lack thereof.

"You mean Keating's show? Neil, we don't even know if they'll let him do another one."

"No, he'll be back. Come on, what do you say? Are you in?"

"I'm in." said Charlie, making a point to stand up dramatically to show his solidarity. "What about you Meeks?"

"I'll try anything once." Meeks said

"Yeah, except sex." Charlie smirked. "Pitts?"

"Fuck off, I'm watching _Friends._" Pitts called from the couch.

"Yeah, but are you in?"

Pitts sighed and gave a noncommittal shrug, which Charlie interpreted as a yes. "Knox? C'mon it'll help you get Chris?"

At this Knox appeared to show interest in something. "How?"

"Dedicate a few love songs to a woman, she'll be swooning in no time." Charlie answered, putting his arm comfortingly around Knox. It was at this that Knox seemed to snap out of his love-sickness, moving him into action.

"What about you Todd?" Neil asked, and Todd suddenly felt everyone's gaze on him.

"Uh... I... uh..." Todd stammered, wishing desperately to be anywhere else. Fuck, why did Neil every bother talking to him? He couldn't even stutter out a sentence. How the hell could he expected to DJ? "I... I don't want to talk."

"Well, what if you don't have to?"

"Neil, I... I'm not like you, I can't" Todd mumbled, trying not to look his friend in the eye

"Please? Todd, c'mon. It'll be fun." Neil pleaded with his goddam puppy eyes at their strongest. Even Todd at his most stubborn was unable to say no to that.

"Okay." Neil responded by hugging Todd, who was too surprised to hug him back.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The ambush of Mr. Keating began early on Monday morning, with everyone managing to sneak into the studio. Not exactly a day known for enthusiasm, but you couldn't tell from how the boys were. Even Todd felt excited, if of course rather nervous. Neil had a bit of a strange sixth sense for when Todd was uncomfortable, and was always trying to reassure him. It hadn't been more than a few days, but he'd been quickly absorbed into this group of boys, and it was all thanks to Neil.

When the man of the hour finally arrived, he was practically mobbed, but didn't seem to mind. Hell, he seemed pleased to see them, and even a bit expectant.

"Hello boys!" he chirped, carrying another box of records, "I take it you've enjoyed the show then."

"Yeah. It was brilliant." Neil was the first to actually speak to him. "What're those?"

"Oh, you want to take a look?" He put the box on his desk, and invited the boys to take a look. Neil began peering through them almost immediately, saying phrasing like 'wow' and "brilliant' every few seconds. Even Charlie seemed to be genuinely impressed by the collection.

"Which ones do you want to play?"

Neil almost immediately pulled out a record by David Bowie, saying it was his favorite. Charlie had something from the Ramones, Knox's was a soul record from the sixties about (what else) unrequited love, Mitts had a dance song from an obscure french electronic group, and Pitts began excitedly waving the soundtrack to the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

"And what about you?" Mr. Keating inquired Todd.

"Nothing." He mumbled half-hardheartedly in response.

"Well, I don't believe that for a second." Keating beamed, shoving the records in Todd's direction. "Go on, pick one."

Todd shook his head. Why was he being put on the spot like this? Neil was looking at him in that fucking way he always did, and the other boys seemed curious, but why couldn't they see? He wasn't like that. He couldn't be, he didn't have any reason to be outgoing, he was just awkward, boring old Todd Anderson, so why did they expect anything of him?

"Oh, I see," Keating said, "Todd thinks that we''l laugh at him, is that right? That we won't like what he offers us. I understand. Sharing music with people, it's not a simple, easy thing. Sharing music you love is like bearing a piece of your soul to someone, part of who you are, and Todd thinks that what he is is worthless." He smiled at Todd, and then said "I disagree, I think that you are worth a very great deal, and obviously so do they." He gestured to the gang. "Go on, are you a man or an amoeba?"

Finally, Todd picked out the record that he wanted to play. It was a song that he'd heard on the radio only once before, but he remembered it well.

"The Cure, huh? Friday I'm Love?" Keating smiled and put his arm around Todd. "Excellent choice."

As promised, Keating played all of their request, and when Todd's song came on, Neil immediately started raving about how good it was.

"Really, it's great! Why didn't you tell me you had such great taste in music?"

Todd shrugged, trying to hide his obvious blushing. "Dunno."

"Well, next time you should be less shy." Neil answered, beaming.

He nodded in response, but still didn't want to tell Neil that he'd picked the song specifically for him.


	5. Chapter 5

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p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hello? Is anyone there?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hey, it's Knox." Knox croaked out, hoping that sounded suaver than it actually did./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh, Knox! That's great. I was just going to call you." At this revelation Knox nearly fell over./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You... you were?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yeah. I'm having a party this weekend, and I was wondering if it would be okay for you to come. I mean, I know with supervision you can have days away from the hospital right?"/p  
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p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Great! So I'll see you there then?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yup." Knox squeaked./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Okay. Bye!" He didn't have the capacity to say good bye back. All he did was turn to his friends, starring them all dead in the eyes. Then, he cried out "Carpe diem!" and everyone cried out with him./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I knew you could do it." Charlie put his arm on Knox's shoulder, and he didn't throw it off./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Shut up Nuwanda."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"-/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Todd was still struggling to find the words to describe Neil. Try as he might, everything was too cliche, every feeling he seemed to feel had been described before by someone sle more clearly. He had written countless poems that now filled up his garbage can. He figured that it didn't matter even if he wrote something to put Byron to shame. Neil couldn't feel that too, Todd was far too small and ordinary to mean that much to him. The paper in the garbage can was just more evidence of that./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Just as he he had given up on another, Neil flew into their room and Todd knew he wouldn't be able to focus on much else. Neil was jumping around, with a piece of paper clutched in his hands, which he promptly shoved into Todd's face./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""A Midsummer Night's Dream?" Todd read aloud./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Open tryouts Todd, they're performing this at the community center and they're having open tryouts! I've always wanted to act but my father, he never let me. He said I had to focus on being a doctor, and that acting would just be a distraction, but you know what? Carpe diem!" He laughed and threw the papers around the room./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Holy shit, that's incredible. Do you know if it's okay for you to do that?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Well," he shrugged, "I mean for minors you need your parents' permissions, but it's nothing I can't fake, right?" He smiled and Todd felt terrible for wanting to tell him to slow down. He didn't know that much about Neil's family, or really what his life had been like before... the incident. He'd never wanted to ask, afraid to say something that might offend Neil and cause him to lose their friendship. Still, he knew what Neil's dad was like. Everyone knew./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I mean, how are you going to do all this without him finding out?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Neil seemed to deflate at the realization of this obstacle. "I mean, well, he's miles away, he can't..."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What if the staff tell him?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I... fuck." Neil sighed, and fell back on his bed. "I haven't even gotten the part, can you at least let me enjoy the idea for a while?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Neil was right, Todd couldn't deny him that./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Are you going on the show on Monday?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Well, I..."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Nothing Keating has to say means anything to you does it?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I... it does, I just..."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You just what? It's about stirred up and you're about as stirred up as a cesspool."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Todd felt his stomach sink. "You want me out."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What?" Neil sat next to Todd on his bed. "No, I want you in. You just gotta do something, not just say you're in."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Look," Todd yelled, "I appreciate this, everything you've done, but I'm just not like you. You... you talk and people listen. I'm not like that."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Neil seemed to bore straight through him with his eyes. "Well, don't you think you could be?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Christ, this kid was frustrating. "I don't know, but that's not the point. There's nothing you can do about it and you can butt out. I can take care of myself just fine."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""No." Neil smirked at him, as though he was stating the most obvious fact in the world./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What do mean no?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""No." And with that, Neil snatched the papers right off of Todd's desk./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Fuckshitfuckholyshitfuck. "Neil, give those back."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Ah poetry!" Neil cackled as Todd ran after him in a futile attempt to get the papers back. "I'm being chased by Walt Whitman!"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Neil, I'm serious..." Neil's face then changed from mischievous to shocked. Fuck, he saw it. He saw his name there, but really, it had been unnecessary to add. Everything about it was so distinctly Neil that it wouldn't have taken Sherlock Holmes to figure it out./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Todd buried his head in his hands. He'd had plenty of moments were he'd wanted nothing more than to disappear, hell it easier to count times when he didn't feel that way, but this had to be the worst. Now he was certain that he'd lost the only person he felt completely comfortable with./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Todd..." Neil crouched next to him, but he couldn't look him in the eye. "Hey..."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Just say I'm a freak and get it other with."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Why would I ever say that? Todd, this, I can't, christ Todd would you at least look at me?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Todd looked up finally to see Neil was close to tears as well. "I'm sorry."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Don't be, I just wish I could say something that beautiful to you." Neil blushed immediately, and it took Todd a few moments to process what Neil had just said./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Wha..."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Todd, this is insane, I know, but would it be okay if I kissed you right now?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yeah." Todd had wanted to say that he didn't want anything else, couldn't want anything else, but 'yeah' was good enough for now./p


End file.
